just some character work
http://forums.megatokyo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB8&Number=402255#Post402255
Thu Feb 21 2002 02:59 AM
[!--OOC: more character work. Ugh, gotta love it I guess.... ^^;;; Um, Squee, if I keep stealing your chances to do Queslin posts, feel free to beat me down, WoK-style so I'll know to stop and let you have a chance.
Hey, SimS, for what it's worth I like your characters. Very original ideas. And just watch me try to match your melodrama in this post! ^_^ We both need to work on writing a *little* bit less per post, though, I think... ^^;;; Like that'll happen. ^_^ --]
--- A small from-Echo's-perspective post ---
[!--OOC: time sync should be pretty obvious. It happens before Tanetris encounters our group in his above post. --]
Echo watched, unable to assist, as Jones broke free of the other man that had been with the werewolf. The Shinobi wasted no time in distracting Fred, at least enough to where he was forced to break off his nanolink. Echo dropped to the ground momentarily, his motor systems suddenly lacking any commands.
Reflexes got him back to his feet, but the hack programs the man had installed still had his command pathways frozen, and they were going to take a while to purge. And even though that was "a while" in robot terms, it was enough to keep Echo stuck motionless as the rest of the group played out their little drama.
An explosion snapped the Doll back to reality. Or it triggered an emergency interrupt that finished overriding the hack programs, if you'd prefer to think of it that way. Why Echo couldn't have done that in the first place was beyond him.
He was surprised to find his upper body covered in soot.
"---Same. Side. Do you understand, or should I repeat it?" The, emotionless, logical part of Echo's brain registered that BG was saying something. BG? He had to be the one tossing around comedy explosives. Good, that meant that the situation was probably under control.
Which allowed Echo's logical mind to surrender some processing time to a now rather insistent emotional thought. Now it was Echo's turn to collapse to his knees, as it hit him what had happened. Someone else had been inside his head again. Ugh, it always reminded him just how fragile his consciousness was. Unlike his rather sturdy body, which he loved, his mind was just a collection of electrical circuits clicking on and off. He wasn't even sure if he had a soul, really. He usually tried not to think about it.
Yukiko, concerned, approached her kneeling 'younger brother' at a jog, but he waved her off.
"I'll be ok," he insisted hoarsely. She stood for a moment, conflicted, and then headed back toward BG.
Meanwhile, Echo's visual feed was flickering. The strain that his pained thinking placed on his processor kept the input from his vision system from being handled properly. His mind felt fragile, like it could shatter at any moment. That guy had gone in deep; Echo didn't usually react this badly.
BG was still talking, but the sound of a motorcycle cut him off. Queslin ran up to Echo.
"Are you all right?"
She HAD been planning to gently make fun of him for attacking people on their side. Now she was the one with her arm wrapped protectively around him. A fitting change of roles, thought the author.
He looked up at her and she gasped, his face was so pained. He stared into her eyes and she had almost no choice but to hold his gaze. His face gradually relaxed.
Inside Echo's head, Mode 7A was reasserting itself thanks to Queslin's appearance. Feelings, strong ones that were still new to him, flooded his mind. The arm around his shoulder and the side of her body pressed up against his seemed to hold his consciousness intact, a thick cushion wrapped around a falling china doll that had been knocked off its shelf. He managed a smile.
"I'm ok now." THIS was how he knew he was alive. These new feelings that Queslin had triggered in him earlier that night, just after he had innocently kissed her, believing that such a kiss was required to wake her out of the clutches of the CSX code.
Queslin's heart, or simulation such as it was, went [bada-bump] at his comment. She blushed and averted her eyes a little, smiling.
"......baka [clang] ...baka [clang] ...baka [clang]. Baka [Clang]. Baka! [Clang!] BAKA--" [CLANG!] Queslin caught WoK's pole before she could wack the distraught Echo with it. Kitty briefly looked sheepish, and then moved onto her next target. "Baka! [Clang!] Baka [Clang]. baka [clang]...baka [clang]...baka [clang]......."
"People poking around in my code..." Echo began, "I just can't stand it, reminds me of just how fragile I am. Latency, Yukiko, Ping, all three have had problems with their EDS code, bad ones. I have before, too."
Echo's mind was calmer now, and he found a certain irony in these events. This whole situation was a *lot* like reading one of his sister's manga books. Which at least helped him place his feelings for Queslin a bit better. But he sill hoped that they could just go chat over a cup of coffee soon, and stop acting like freaks from a Shouja story.
"Your... arm." Queslin sounded both concerned and nervous, as she found herself suddenly squeamish at the sight of bare metal in Echo's arm.
"Ite!" The reaction was programmed, since he didn't really feel pain per say, just a signal from a few sensors.
Echo inspected his left arm, the one the wolf-girl had been chewing on. Skin shredded in several places, clear through to his chassis in a couple. D4mn. And his skin was nearly bulletproof!
His constrictors were functioning properly, at least. A network of coolant tubes ran through his synthetic skin, wicking heat away from his hydrogen-powered fuel cells and doing a nifty job of simulating human body temperature at the same time.
The coolant lines in his arm had been ripped apart by the wolf-bite as well. But special constrictors were built into the lines for specifically this reason. When a rip was detected they closed off the affected tubes, applying a sort of instant tourniquet that kept fluid leakage to a minimum.
Echo smiled. It wasn't as fancy as Queslin's solution to the same problem, but it certainly worked.
"Let me se it." An instinct had prodded Queslin to try something. Echo hesitated. "I'll stay out of your software," she reassured. He held his arm out.
Her hands turned a dull gray as she put them on the tear. They stayed shaped like hands, but were now a plastic consistancy and molded around his arm. The tactile sensors in his skin picked up thousands of tiny pinpricks. Whoo, trippy!
Queslin removed her hand a moment later and Echo's skin was intact. Yup, he though, she just 'healed' me. We're definitely stuck in Shouja Manga Hell.
"Thanks. You don't mind doing that?"
"What?"
"Using your... architecture like that?" He had already picked up on the fact that Queslin still thought of herself as human, or at least wanted to.
"I did?" She looked down at her hands, which were just starting to regain their normal color. "I... guess I did. Ummm, no problem," she blushed, "It's to help you, after all." He smiled at her, coloring a little himself. [!--OOC: note that, now that there is a lull in fighting and/or robot trauma, they're both starting to become more self-conscious around each other again. Starting to, anyway.--]
He started to rise and Queslin stood with him. Part of her was unwilling to take her arm off his shoulder, since he didn't seem to mind. ^_^
Fred approached them. Queslin's RPG was in her hand again, instinctively pulled out of her backpack.
"Woah," cautioned Fred, arms raised in a surrender gesture.
"What do you want?" There was more than a little distaste in Echo's voice.
"I wanted to say I'm so---"
"BAKA!" [CLANG!] It was apparently Fred's turn to be poled by Kitty.
"Ite... I wanted to say I'm sorry for hacking into your systems earlier. I didn't know that yo---"
"BAKA!" [CLANG!] The girl was having fun, all right.
"Oi! Um, sorry," Fred paused. "I didn't know that you'd have such a strong reaction to it. I was only curuio---"
"BAKA!" [CLANG!]
"Would you cut that out!"
"Bribe me with skittles," the little Wizard grinned. She had a scam going, all right. Five other bags of candy already hung in a small pouch at her waist. Fred rummaged in his pockets.
"My last one, little scamp," he grinned back, handing her a brightly-colored packet.
"Thankies!" and she turned to leave.
"As I was sayi---"
"BAKA!" [CLANG!] "That's for calling me 'scamp'," she added and skipped off. Fred did a comedic pain take for a moment, and then resumed a normal appearance.
"As I was saying, I was just curious about your design, and I want to offer my sincerest apologies for what I did." He extended his hand in a friendly manner.
"A-apology accepted," said Echo uneasily. "But you'll excuse me if I don't shake your hand." Fred nodded.
Kitty's pole-ing spree seemed to be ending, and everyone was beginning to wonder (somewhat painfully) what came next.
[!--OOC: Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be gone, aren't I? Whoops. Someone should have reminded me. x_x Hey, I'm addicted. And this isn't quite the post I was hoping to do tonight, but then the RP isn't where I was expecting it either. Heck, I'm happy anyway. ^_^
Gorion, if you don't like the hard time I'm giving Fred, I'm perfectly willing to edit.
My approach to avoiding godmoding mostly entails giving *everyone*, including (and especially) my own character, a hard time. ^_^ Failing that, just remember to have fun with your posts. *That's* something I need to remember better too.
Also, it's worth noting that WoK's beatings are *generally* administered to NPCs and/or the person who's writing for her at the time (a la DWC's last post). Clearly it's just a guideline, as I broke it in my above post. And I'm always willing to edit if anyone objects.
Oh, if you happen to receive a beating in an actual Wizard of Kitty post? Well then consider yourself smiled upon by the neko-gods... 'Cause chances are you *really* had it coming. ^_^
I'm leaving this time. Really. And I won't be back 'till Monday. Have fun without me!
[/me sees a Squee post currently removed for editing below]. D'OH!!! Sorry, Squee!
--]